Atonement

"Torn apart by betrayal. Separated by war. Bound by love."

2007 2h 3m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🍅

83%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.8

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 4,860🍅83%Rotten Tomatoes●85Metacritic★7.8IMDB · 320,845

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young girl irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

“Torn apart by betrayal. Separated by war. Bound by love.”

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Cast

James McAvoy
Robbie Turner
Keira Knightley
Cecilia Tallis
Saoirse Ronan
Briony Tallis (Age 13)
Romola Garai
Briony Tallis (Age 18)
Vanessa Redgrave
Briony Tallis (Age 77)
Brenda Blethyn
Grace Turner
Juno Temple
Lola Quincey
Benedict Cumberbatch
Paul Marshall

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joe Wright
Writers: Christopher Hampton
Languages: English, French
Countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joe Wright, shot by Seamus McGarvey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dario Marianelli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Paul Tothill shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James McAvoy and Keira Knightley and Saoirse Ronan carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joe Wright directs. Seamus McGarvey behind the camera. Dario Marianelli scores. Paul Tothill cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in France, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.
2Released 19 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
4International production across 3 countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Directed by Joe Wright, shot by Seamus McGarvey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Dario Marianelli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Paul Tothill shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8James McAvoy and Keira Knightley and Saoirse Ronan carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Torn apart by betrayal. Separated by war. Bound by love.".
10IMDB entry: tt0783233 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 22 themes, including "new love", "sibling relationship", "based on novel or book", "wind".
12Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey
Original score: Dario Marianelli
Editing: Paul Tothill
Production design: Sarah Greenwood
Costume design: Jacqueline Durran
Makeup / hair: Nathaniel De'Lineadeus
Sound: Martin Jensen
Stunt coordinator: Lee Sheward
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,000,000
Box office: $131,016,624
Return: 437% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Atonement (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 85/100
IMDB rating: 7.8/10 · 320,845 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 52 wins & 150 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Original Score

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Joe Wright

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-02-09
★ 7/10
"Cecilia" (Keira Knightley) has fallen for "Robbie" (James McCoy) - a man well down the social ladder from her family and their stately home. It's love, though, and the young man is doing his best to fit into their privileged world by studying (at their expense) at Cambridge with a view to becoming a doctor. Meantime, following a scene that she has completely misinterpreted and the reading of a letter that wasn't any of her business, their behaviour is being rather unhealthily scrutinised by her thirteen year old sister "Briony" (Saoirse Ronan) who soon becomes fixated on the couple, on destroying the couple and to that latter end she concocts a story that not only achieves her goal, but sees "Robbie" wrongly incarcerated for a fairly heinous crime. The war intervenes and that gives the lovers a chance to recalibrate their feelings for each other whilst the now more mature "Briony" (now Romola Garai) with whom her sister has become estranged, is having a serious crisis of conscience and travels to London to be both a nurse and to take responsibility for her behaviour five years earlier. This is a complex and detailed piece of cinema and McAvoy delivers really well as the honest and decent lad caught up in a web of deceit and envy. Knightley is less effective - but still contributes well enough as the truth is finally known before an inevitable tragedy strikes. It's a story about the ramifications of a lie, but it's also about people's abilities to love, forgive and to judge. Loyalty might only be skin deep but regret lasts for ever, and ever might not be so long as you might hope. Dario Marianelli has created a masterful score to accompany this story and the writing and Joe Wright's subtle direction ensure we steer well clear of the melodramatic and the sentimental as the denouement looms and Vanessa Redgrave appears for a quite fitting final mea culpa. A straightforward British period drama this isn't and it's well worth a watch on big screen for the a cinematography that marries the rustic charm of rural England with the horrors of bombs, bullets and blood poignantly.
badelf2026-05-03
★ 10/10
Atonement (2007) Directed by Joe Wright The story is powerful and emotional, based on Ian McEwan's novel about a single catastrophic lie and its decades-long consequences. The screen adaptation by Christopher Hampton is as strong as, or stronger than, the source material. This is an incredible, maybe perfect, screenplay brought to life by Joe Wright with a visual style that's utterly unique. Wright doesn't just film the story; he creates a cinematic language for it, using long takes, precise compositions, and that extraordinary Dunkirk tracking shot that moves through chaos with impossible grace. The continuity of the three actors who played the aging Briony, from Saoirse Ronan as the precocious child who tells the lie, to Romola Garai as the young woman seeking redemption through nursing, to Dame Vanessa Redgrave as the elderly novelist still wrestling with her past, was astonishing. You believe completely that you're watching the same person at different stages of life, carrying the same guilt, the same need for atonement that can never quite be achieved. This is a huge accomplishment of Joe Wright's direction, and of course of the three actors who inhabited the role with such precision that the transitions feel seamless. The film takes place within a period when the meaning of class has begun to erode and evolve. Robbie (James McAvoy) is the housemaid's son, educated by the Tallis family, loving Cecilia (Keira Knightley) across a class divide that's starting to crack but hasn't broken. World War II accelerates that dissolution; the old order is dying, but it still has enough power to destroy lives. Briony's lie works because the authorities want to believe it, because a working-class man accused of assaulting an upper-class girl fits their worldview too perfectly to question. What haunts about Atonement is the recognition that some things cannot be undone, that guilt carried for a lifetime doesn't necessarily lead to redemption. Wright crafted a film that understands this with devastating clarity, refusing easy absolution or false comfort. It's a masterpiece, one of the finest literary adaptations ever filmed.
JPV8522026-06-01
★ 9/10
Absolutely amazing and well acted drama that I've seen a few times going back to 2007 (I think in the theater). Keira Knightley and James McAvoy shared great chemistry in the few scenes they had together and Saoirse Ronan was amazing (earning her an Academy Award nomination). The only criticism I have is the ending where it felt more like absolution than atonement. Still a stunning movie with incredible cinematography and amazing performances. 4.5/5